Learning from the Best
by DarkAngelSnapeLover
Summary: A lonely hermit decides to leave the comfort of her home for the first time since the apocalypse began. When she encounters her first walker in person, she freezes, but a kind person comes to her rescue. Can she help her rescuer, the tough Michonne, or are the hardships of the prison still too much for her to bear? One-Shot.


**Learning from the Best**

I'd been holed up in the house for too long, too long. Yes, my prepping helped me survive up to this point, but I had to stretch my legs. Pacing the living room just wasn't working anymore, and it's not like I couldn't defend myself if I needed to. So I grabbed my favorite weapon, a baseball bat I'd wrapped in barbed wire, as well as a small pistol with a small box of ammo. Then for the first time since this whole thing began, I opened my door and stepped outside.

The smell of rotting flesh was in the air. Blood was caked onto the street from previous encounters between living man and undead man. I'd watched the battles from an upstairs room, carefully keeping my distance. I had the supplies I needed, and the monsters never even approached my property thanks to how quiet I was. The battles went on without me, thinning out the population, at least on my street.

Once full of life, the once perfect lawns were now littered with debris. I avoided broken bits of old weapons, piles of rotting things, and so many other obstacles I never thought I'd have to see. It was overwhelming, and I let my guard slipped.

He moved towards me swiftly, dragging a leg with no foot. His other foot had a broken boot on it, the sole flapping as he moved. These details were fixed in my mind, and I knew this thing only meant to hurt me, but I was frozen, incapable of moving. My arms hung limp at my side, and I watched him come towards me without thinking. I was numb, completely withdrawn from this deadly situation.

"WAKE UP!" a woman shrieked, a flash breaking my withdrawn state. When I blinked my eyes, the monster's head was on the ground, the eyes still blinking as it rolled towards the clogged storm drain. The monster's body twitched on the ground at the feet of a strange woman who was sheathing a katana. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I-This is the first time I've been out," I whispered. "I just wanted some fresh air, and...I thought I could handle them, but I guess I was wrong. I'm...um...going back inside now. Would you like anything as a thanks? I've been stockpiling for years, so there's plenty if you want a quick meal or somewhere to sleep."

"W-Water," she choked. I looked to the woman, dirty from battles with the monsters. I nodded to her, gesturing for her to follow me. "Just stay awake," she whispered, pointing to a small group of monsters wandering around at the other end of the street.

"I don't know where they're coming from. This street has been clear for months," I said with a confused tone. The woman said nothing, following me step for step back into my house. She took a seat in the living room and I brought her a bottle of cold water from the cellar. She handled it first, admiring its cool temperature, before snapping open the bottle and downing half of it in a few gulps.

She exhaled with relief, wiping her dirty forehead. She eyed the living room before looking out the window at the group outside. There were six altogether, and a few were missing limps or had strange-looking eyes. I looked at them with curiosity, but she'd seen this group before or something. Her expressionless face was hard to read, so I waited for her to talk.

"The herds are growing," she whispered. "They wander around looking for anything they can. There's less of us and more of them. They'll go anywhere now, even back to old hunting grounds. They don't think like we do. They aren't human anymore."

"Why do some of them have the strange eyes? Ew, that one's even missing one," I gasped. The woman snickered slightly, smirking to me. "What was so funny about that?"

"You really are too sheltered, you know that? I've been out in this mess plenty of times before. The most disgusting thing I've reacted too recently was-," she stopped, her expression going blank and cryptic again. "My point is that you're better off in here. You've got barricades and supplies. You're lucky, kid. You need to just stay inside and pace your floor and forget that outside world exists."

"Are there others, other survivors?" I asked softly. She thought for a moment before shrugging. "So you were with others?"

"Quite a few, a whole prison full. The prisoners were gone, well...I wasn't there for those encounters, but the last one died not long after I joined their group. There was a battle between two strong groups. The leader of the other group disappeared afterwards, so his people moved in with us. He came back, and...well I thought they'd wait for us somewhere. Some of our people fled by bus, and I tried to find it. I've been on my own for days, but the walkers have contaminated the damn water. The food is almost gone from other raiders, and...well you're just too damn lucky," she sighed, eying my living quarters carefully.

"I've been lonely for a while. I can see that having others around has its cons, but I wish I had a companion for a few days. Maybe you should stay here, then we can track down this bus or whatever. I haven't heard anything from outside in months. It's like the birds and animals are all gone," I whispered, sinking into a chair. "They're even eating birds and rodents now, aren't they?"

"If it lives and breathes, they want it. And the ones with the weird eyes might be from a different problem. Before that jackass came back, there was a sickness that swept through most of the prison. Our numbers dropped off pretty good, and some good people were lost. Your worst fear right now should be sickness," she said sternly. "If you die, you become one of them. No bites, no scratches, just you becoming them. You have to take care of yourself. If you think you're too sick to live through it, then you should just end it."

"End it how? I know some people hung themselves a few blocks over, but they-"

"They became walkers," the woman nodded. "You have to use a bullet anywhere in the brain. It's the only way."

"That's horrible," I whispered. "I never thought this would get to be so...so wretched. I knew it wouldn't just blow over, but the radio swore it would. Then the radio stopped broadcasting. They told you about the sanctuaries at first, then the channels went dark. I haven't turned it on in months. I don't want to hear the silence."

"Where is it?" the woman asked. I gestured for her to follow me into the den. After making sure the radio was at a low volume, I turned it on. At first, there was just static, but as the woman turned the knob, she started getting louder static, and eventually a garbled message. "I'll be…. I thought we were hearing things out on the road. I was with some others before that monster came back. We heard something, but we couldn't make it out. Then we came up on a herd so large it stretched for miles."

"A herd?"

"Like those out there but large, like enough to fill an entire football field," the woman said darkly. "You won't stand a chance in one. They'd tear you to pieces before you could even scream."

"Is it anywhere near here?" I asked. She shrugged, turning off the radio. "I want to help you find your friends, if you don't mind helping me learn more about the world out there. I need to know in case this place isn't safe anymore."

"I'd say your best bet is to hide out however you can," she whispered, "but if you want knowledge, I'll tell you what I know. You should stay here as long as possible, as long as possible," she repeated, emphasizing the words as she returned to the cool water bottle. "It's not just the walkers you have to look out for. The people out there, the survivors like me who've been in this mess since the beginning, they're more dangerous than anything you could ever imagine."

"Then why do you want to get back to your friends? You seem adamant that people means hardship."

"The group I was with was a good group. They've got families within them, children even. One of the men had a baby with his wife. She didn't make it, but the baby did. Now we're all over the place," she sighed. "I want to make sure certain ones make it through alright. The bus had the sick on it and some kids. I want to make sure they're okay, then I want to look for the others, the man who had the baby and some others. We suffered when everything hit the fan," she said, removing her katana from its sheath. "This weapon did something unspeakable because of that monster, that demon in a man's body," she said coldly. "I hate what it did, but it's the only thing I've had since the beginning, so I keep using it. I keep letting it protect me even though it killed one of the only men who helped keep that group together."

I let the words sink in as she turned away from me, returning the katana to its sheath as she looked out the window. The small group was gone, but we both knew there'd be more. There were always more, according to her, and I was stupid to think otherwise. I sat down, trying to let my day sink in. She sat down too, the exhausting storytelling and wandering finally draining her.

"I'll stay here until morning, if you'll have me. You should stay here where you're safe, but I'd be grateful for whatever you have to lend me. If I can, I'll come back to tell you if I found anyone, but you have to get used to dissatisfaction. I've thought I was safe so many times over the last few months, as did my friends, but we were so wrong, just so damn wrong," she spat, looking up to me with very stern eyes. "You have something here that no one else in the whole world has. You protect it with your life, and when people like me come through, you make hard choices. I'm not perfect, but I'm not evil either. There's decent people and there's monsters out there. If the monsters threaten you, kill them while you have the chance," she hissed sharply, her eyes trying to fight away tears. "You kill them before they take away everything you have and then some!"

I nodded sternly, letting her turn away from me. I gathered some linens and offered her the living room couch. She took to it after a few minutes of recovery, and I allowed her to have the room to herself. I brewed myself a cup of tea and looked down to the street from my upstairs room. Off in the distance, I could see movement. I could tell it was a person, but I couldn't tell if they were dead or alive. I put down my warm mug and picked up a pair of binoculars I'd found in my attic. I adjusted the focus, and to my shock, I saw a boy walking down the street calling a pair of walkers to him and towards a house.

I ran downstairs, the noise scaring my visitor.

"Was there a boy with the group, a boy in a brown hat?"

"Carl…," she whispered.

I rushed to the hallway closet. Inside was my emergency travel bag. Inside was plenty to help a few people survive long enough to find something else. It was perfect for her, and I handed it to her with a stern gaze. She didn't want to take it, but I wouldn't let her hand it back.

"Go before he disappears. Go two streets down, then it's the third house. Go!" I commanded.

"My name is Michonne," she said, putting the pack on her back and drawing her sword. She looked out the window, checking for walkers that might be too close.

"My name is Carol Anne," I nodded. "I'll see you again one day. I promise I'll see you again."

She nodded, opening the door and running towards where I told her to go. She'd been injured recently, it seemed, and she limped slightly, but as I watched her from upstairs, I could tell the injury didn't matter to her. She sliced through a monster-a walker-with one quick swish, and in just a few minutes, she was at the door. I adjusted my binoculars, watching closely as she gently rapped on the door.

When the door opened, the boy answered. Despite the hard exterior she'd showed me, she and the boy hugged before disappearing inside. I smiled to myself, happy that I helped her how I could.

I watched the house for days. They moved on eventually, disappearing into the wilds. I didn't see another person for weeks, though there were plenty of walkers. I stayed quiet, rationing my food and water like always. I counted toilet paper squares and fought through headaches without any medicine. I paced the living room when I was bored, and I never set foot outside again.

Theme 001: Helping Hands

Bonus Challenge: Allude to "It's just too damn gorgeous" line. I think I have similar phrasing twice in this piece.

To complete the themes yourself, I have the list posted on my profile. The list is for any type of fan fiction (one-shot, drabble, etc.) and any fandom. Challenge yourself in other ways to make it more fun, and enjoy!


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